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Garfield Park Conservatory wedding: Regina + Ben

There’s so much gorgeous greenery going on in these photos from Bryan and Mae. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg really. On top of the lush gardens, Garfield Park Conservatory in Chi-town also has dazzling, light-filled rooms with glass ceilings; beautiful Prairie style architecture; and that fabulous mosaic fountain backdrop for the ceremony. Regina + Ben sure know how to pick a venue.

Regina says, I’ve always loved elements of Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and the Arts and Crafts/Prairie Style, so I tend to gravitate towards vintage things along those lines. Ben likes things a bit more modern, so I guess you could say our wedding was “modern-vintage.” It really wasn’t important to either of us to stick to a theme or style, though, but to incorporate as many personal touches and DIY details as possible.

Can we all just take a moment to admire Regina’s 1920s Art Deco-style Jenny Packham gown? OK, now we can move on…

Regina’s mother is a weaver, and she designed the chuppah to come apart after the wedding to become eight shawls in total—one for each of the five bridesmaids, one for Ben’s mother, one for Regina’s mother, and one for the bride herself!

Love it when couples work together on the DIY details. Regina collected silverware on eBay for months to make the decorative backdrop. Then, Ben and his best man strung them all together the day before the wedding.

More from Regina… Our recessional song, “Marquee Moon” by Television, is really special to us. But because it’s 10 minutes long and changes tempo quite a bit, we didn’t want to play it during our dance set. As it turned out, after walking down the aisle at exit, we had an unplanned private moment to dance to this song without anyone watching or knowing (our wedding party led the guests out a different exit). Time seemed to slow to a regular pace in this moment, and everything instantly felt real. With our song playing, we had our first dance in private, and we got to reflect on the ceremony with each other in a beautiful, hidden garden. We just kept saying how much we loved each other, and how happy we were to finally be married. This is what the whole day was all about, so it will always stick out as the best part.